| For Immediate Release Case # 04CF2415
November 7, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
MOTHER FACES RE-TRIAL FOR MURDERING HER 3-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER IN HUNTINGTON BEACH COLD CASE FROM 1969
SANTA ANA – A mother faces trial Monday for murdering her 3-year-old daughter, Michelle, 39 years ago in Huntington Beach. Donna J. Prentice, 61, will be re-tried on one felony count of murder. based on the sentencing laws of 1969, Prentice faces a maximum sentence of 5 years to life in prison if convicted. Prentice’s former boyfriend and co-defendant in the case, James Michael Kent, died of natural causes in 2005 prior to standing trial. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. in Department C-42, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
In 1969, Prentice and her two children, Michelle and a 6-year-old son, were living on Tigerfish Circle in Huntington Beach with Kent and his son. In the summer of 1969, Michelle went missing. Within a few days of Michelle’s disappearance, the couple is accused of packing their belongings into their car and leaving Orange County with the two remaining sons and the family pets. Prentice and Kent are accused of telling the boys that there was not enough room in the car for Michelle, and that she had been left with relatives in California. Prentice and Kent moved to Illinois with the boys and Michelle was never seen again. A missing persons report was never filed, and the couple split up some years later.
In 2001, 32 years after Michelle went missing, Michelle’s aunt hired a private investigator to look into the disappearance. The investigator brought the case to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Taskforce review aimed at catching Killers, Rapist, and Sexual offenders Unit (TracKRS) in 2003. TracKRS investigators spent over a year reviewing the case and interviewing the defendants and witnesses in California, Florida, Illinois, Las Vegas, and Wisconsin. This is the oldest case solved by the TracKRS Unit, which was formed in 1997 to review Orange County cold cases dating back to 1960.
The case was filed against Prentice and Kent on Aug. 9, 2004, and Prentice was extradited from Vernon County, WI, on Sept. 15, 2004, to face the murder charge. Kent, who was extradited from Lake County, IL, on Aug. 27, 2004, confessed to investigators that he had buried Michelle’s dead body in Williams Canyon, an unincorporated area of Orange County. After making the confession, Kent, 63, died on Feb. 4, 2005.
Prentice was tried for the murder in June 2007, but a jury was unable to reach a verdict.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
###